


Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back

by autumndark



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, but occasionally fluff believe it or not, but the author hates gore and will keep it to a minimum, everything is terrible bc its the apocalypse, warnings for mentions of violence and death (non-graphic)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 23:10:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13844991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumndark/pseuds/autumndark
Summary: The world is falling apart and modern-day zombies are threatening to kill off everyone that is still surviving.Through it all, Park Woojin holds Park Jihoon’s hand and prays that the two of them will make it out alive. Everything is horrible and the nightmares never stop but having Jihoon by his side makes each day a little easier.This is a love story set after the beginning of the end.alternatively,2park surviving the zombie apocalypse





	Save Yourself, I'll Hold Them Back

**Author's Note:**

> This AU takes place in America even though I am not American because I feel like all zombie apocalypse movies / fics take place in the U.S??? Also there’s a lot of country to roam around. Please overlook anything doesn’t make sense (or let me know)! 
> 
> Enjoy~ ♥
> 
> Recommended playlist:  
> Fall Out Boy’s entire [Mania album](https://open.spotify.com/album/0QVVaNm7WlojUMyVhoRNHz) tbh but if you only want to check out one song, I recommend [Bishop’s Knife Trick](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXQGbHyX3rM).

“Hey, Woojin.”

Woojin lifts his head from where he had been casually resting it, cushioned between his arms and balanced precariously on a heavy textbook that he hasn’t fully read yet. Surreptitiously, Woojin wipes away the drool leaking down the side of its cover.

Groaning, Woojin rubs the sleep out of his eye and turns to face the other boy. 

Currently, he and Jihoon are the only ones left in the classroom; the rest of their classmates having fled as soon as the final bell had rung. Exam season is coming up shortly and the hardworking ones will be using that time to fit in some last-minute studying however the majority are probably out having some fun before their student life comes to an end.

"What is it?” asks Woojin, voice husky from napping.

Warm sunlight filters through the room and casts Jihoon in a soft heavenly glow, highlighting his auburn hair and inciting the signature twinkle that often resides in the other boy’s eyes.

“I’ve been thinking a lot recently,” starts Jihoon, biting his lips. 

Unconsciously, Woojin’s gaze drops to Jihoon’s mouth. His lips have turned a vibrant shade of red from perpetually chewing on them and are chapped as a result. 

Woojin feels a strong urge to lean over and kiss his boyfriend so he does. 

The sudden kiss causes Jihoon's already rosy cheeks to redden further. 

“What was that for?” giggles Jihoon, ducking his face to hide his smile.

 _Cute,_  thinks Woojin, wearing a matching smile on his own face.

“Anyway, as I was saying.” continues Jihoon. 

He leans over and takes one of Woojin’s hands, playing with his fingers.

“After we graduate, what do you think about going to the same university and renting an apartment together?” asks Jihoon. 

His face remains calm but Woojin can hear the apprehension in Jihoon’s voice. 

Pausing, Jihoon keeps his eyes firmly locked on Woojin’s hands, and avoids eyes contact as he continues "We could even move somewhere across the country, wouldn’t that be fun?”

Looking down at their joined hands, Woojin thinks that they draw a contrasting picture. Jihoon’s hands have always been soft and smooth to the touch, with warm palms and short fingers. Woojin finds them rather cute. In comparison, his own hands are veiny and calloused from time spent playing sports and being outdoors, with longer and thinner fingers. 

Woojin finds himself smiling at the question, wide enough for his snaggletooth to peek out from behind his lips, and grasps Jihoon’s hands firmly between his own. 

Wholeheartedly, he replies. 

“I’d love that."

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Keep quiet, and stay behind me.” instructs Woojin, keeping his voice to a whisper.

He feels Jihoon nodding from behind him; Jihoon's presence is a comforting warmth on his left-hand side, a contrast to the cold comfort of the heavy pistol in his right hand.

The stairwell is dark and devoid of life, with only the faintest hints of light filtering through the windows that lie on odd-numbered floors. Straining his ears, Woojin listens for any signs of life but finds that he is unable to pick up anything, not even the sounds of birds outside. 

Woojin turns his head back, and he and Jihoon share a look before silently deciding to proceed further down. 

Taking a calming breath, Woojin sighs internally, mentally steeling himself.

 _Who would have thought that it would come to this?_

It feels like an entire lifetime ago that he and Jihoon had sat together in that empty classroom, two high schoolers discussing their plans for the future, when their days were filled with carefree laughter and playful banter, when their biggest worries consisted of passing their finals and managing their weekly allowance.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_(Jihoon would always overspend it on snacks and Woojin would act as though he wasn’t going to pay for the other boy but always gave in anyway in the end._

 _‘Weak’ is what Daehwi would call him._

 _‘Whipped’ was Jinyoung’s word of choice._

 _‘Mine’ is what Jihoon would proudly say in reply.)_

  
  
  
  
  
  


Flash-forward 8 months later, and the world had gone to shit.

When the initial warning signs had first started popping up across the country, opinions were divided. Many people were doubtful, shrugging it off and carrying on with their business, whilst others became panicked and claimed that it was the end of the world.

 _A zombie outbreak?_

It sounded too extreme to be true. 

The majority of people had felt that there must have been a scientific explanation behind all of the so-called ‘zombie’ sightings. Sceptical, they believed that real life zombies were something that should only be able to occur within the realm of a movie or a video game - a world that was strictly  _fictional_ - and as a result, did not take any action to save themselves.

That was also what Woojin and Jihoon had thought when the news about the epidemic first broke, choosing to continue going about their normal daily lives, commuting to and fro between their cosy, studio apartment in New York City and their classes in university as usual. 

Although most of the American public continued to go to work and school as they always had, a select handful of people made the resolute decision to flee the country. 

Jihoon’s family were one such example.

That phone conversation still remains in Jihoon’s memory.

  
  
  
  
  
  


After returning home to their flat with the weekly groceries, Jihoon had received a panicked call from his mother, informing him that she, her father, and Jihoon’s older brother and his family were booking a flight to Tokyo and leaving the country before the infection could become widespread. In near hysterics, she had then begged Jihoon to leave as well.

“Mom, calm down. What do you mean you’re leaving?” asks Jihoon, setting down his items at the entranceway and locking the front door.

“Jihoon. Jihoon, honey, your father thinks that this is serious, and even your brother agrees.” his mother replies, her voice cracking slightly. “Jihoon, you have to leave. Leave while you still can.” 

His mother pauses, hiccupping and crying softly. It’s been awhile since Jihoon has heard her voice and hearing her sobbing first thing is starting to make his throat choke up, but what she is telling him is insane.

“Mom, aren’t you overreacting? This isn’t-“ Jihoon tries to reason with her but gets cut off before he can finish.

Sternly, his mother replies, “No, Jihoon. This isn’t a joke. I’m booking you a flight from New York to London, nonstop. Your father and I are going to Tokyo, it’s one of the earliest flights out of Chicago, and then eventually we’re going to go stay with some of my relatives living in Masan back in Korea.” 

“What? I- You’re going to Korea?” Jihoon repeats stunned, his back against the doorway, as he mentally goes over what his mother had told him. Pushing off the door agitatedly, Jihoon argues “Wait, what do you mean you booked me a flight? No, that’s- I don’t need you to do that!” 

“Jihoon, I’m begging you.” says his mother, desperately. “If this is about you not wanting to leave Woojin behind, I can book a ticket for him too. Just, please, listen to your mother.”

Jihoon can feel his eyes starting to tear up and he feels like a terrible son.

With a gentler voice, Jihoon attempts to persuade her again. 

Placatingly, Jihoon says “Mom, no. Woojin and I still have to go to classes. I have assignments and tests, Woojin has his own commitments. We have friends here. I can’t just leave.” 

The line goes silent for a few seconds.

Finally, his mother replies “Jihoon. I know you are stubborn, and that you think you are capable and independent now.” Jihoon tries to interject but his mother continues over him. “But this is your life that we’re talking about here. I am booking you 2 tickets and that is final. And I expect you to get on that flight.”

“Mom, no. Don’t waste your money on-“ 

Jihoon stops himself once he registers the dial tone beeping loudly in his ear.

Emotionally exhausted, Jihoon sighs and sinks down onto the carpet. 

 _Packing up and leaving everything here over a rumour? What a foolish thing to do._

In hindsight, he was the foolish one.

  
  
  
  
  
  


The very first report had come in from Twitter; an isolated incident occurring in Dallas, Texas, that nobody had paid much attention to at the time. 

Shortly after, more occurrences of strange, almost zombie-like activity started trickling in from Atlanta, Georgia, and the issue started gaining more steam online.

Conspiracy theorists had latched onto the sightings, using it as evidence to fuel their zombie apocalypse theories whilst the fringe science community had feared that this was the start of a new, dangerous, and unknown disease strain that they would not have the tools to fight back against. 

This was when the smartest people chose to book a flight out while they still could and left the country.

Despite the growing signs, the majority of the internet and media wrote it off, and ruled it to be a stupid video trend or wide-scale prank that aimed only to incite the country into a mass hysteria.

More and more cases started popping up, of humans that had somehow contracted the disease and became rabid, almost like mad dogs, seeking out death and destruction. 

It wasn’t long before major network news had started reporting on the zombie activity, forcing the government to take a stance on the issue. Trying to keep the American public calm, they had downplayed the scale of the damage and reassured the people that a panel of leading scientists and experts were working towards identifying the disease and creating an successful vaccine, and that if the worst came to be, the military would be able to eliminate the threat and keep any of the infected at bay.

It failed to work and murmurs of suspected biological warfare having caused the outbreak begun to spread like wildfire.

By the time that scientists had managed to develop a rudimentary understanding of the disease and vaccine possibilities, it was arguably too late. All of the major airports had been effectively shutdown - Atlanta, Florida, New York, San Francisco - and international flights were no longer running. 

Some people remained faithful that their God would protect them, others opted for creating their own fortifying measures and squirrelled themselves away into bunkers and basements. 

There were also those who trusted that the government and science would pull through and save everyone.

One by one, each of the major cities became overrun by modern-day zombies.

This was how an entire country was brought to its knees in as little as 7 days.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Unlike Jihoon, Woojin’s family did not opt to evacuate early. Los Angeles had remained untouched by the infestation at first, unlike the eastern coast and mid-south, and it seemed that they were alive and healthy when Woojin had contacted them after Jihoon had confessed to him what his own mother had told him.

After the airports all began to close, communications and outbound traffic eventually came to a standstill. Utilities like gas and electricity stayed on for a short period longer, but ultimately any remaining survivors were left to rely on batteries.

New York, due to its dense population and high levels of domestic and international traffic, had been hit harder and faster than some of the other cities. 

The rest of the apartment block had vacated quickly, leaving behind the safety of their flats to venture out in search of less populated areas within several days of the nationwide epidemic. 

In the early days of the panic, Daniel and Seongwoo, a pair of senior students from the same block who also attended New York University, had come up to inform Woojin and Jihoon that they would be leaving their apartment soon and asked if the pair wanted to come along with them. 

At the time, Woojin and Jihoon had jointly concluded that the safest option was to hole up inside their apartment and weather out the brunt of the zombie activity and human stampeding indoors where there were less enemies to look out for. Politely refusing, they had opted to take the chance of being discovered within their home over the higher risks involved with tackling the dangers head-on. 

Their neighbour, an office worker named Yoon Jisung, had also visited them before he left. When the pair mentioned that their plan was to stay for now, Jisung had offered to let them come over and collect anything that they needed from his apartment.

 _“I can only carry so much on my back and in my hands, whatever I can’t bring with me would have gone to waste anyway.” Jisung had said, before he too disappeared._

With Jisung’s assistance, Woojin and Jihoon were thankfully able to boost their meagre rations and supplies with a decent stockpile of camping and outdoor survival items that would, if used wisely, allow them to remain in their home for close to a month.

Praying that their friends and family were alright for now, Woojin and Jihoon had barricaded their apartment doors and windows, and hunkered down until the worst of it had passed.

  
  
  
  
  
  


There had a been a conversation about their plan for survival at the end of the first week.

Woojin had been sitting on the bathroom floor, his back against the locked door, a small lit candle lying between his spread legs. Opposite him, Jihoon sat leant against the bathtub, half-filled with water that they had been using for drinking.

An unusually large amount of food is laid out between them on the tiled floor.

Earlier that day, the electricity supply had finally given out and they had been forced to take out all of the perishables from the fridge and consume them before they had a chance to go bad.

“Are we really gonna just stay here forever?” whispers Jihoon, biting down on a stale carrot idly. It tastes bland and chalky. “What are we going to do once we run out of supplies, Woojin?"

Picking up his pocket knife, Woojin starts cutting an overly ripe orange. He gives half to Jihoon.

“Once the fighting in the city dies down, we should head somewhere else.” Woojin replies, his voice croaky from disuse.

Apathetically, Jihoon spits out “Where is there to go? The whole country is being eaten alive.”

“There must be some places that are unpopulated or some kind of group of survivors, that sort of thing.” reasons Woojin. His voice sounds more confident than he actually feels. He continues, "If we wait it out, we might be able to leave the country eventually.” 

“Is that what you want?” asks Jihoon.

Setting down the knife, Woojin raises his eyes and meets Jihoon’s own, taking in his boyfriend’s appearance.

Jihoon’s looks tired and his skin has dulled, but the light in his eyes still shines brightly.

 _He looks beautiful._

“Eventually, maybe.” Woojin licks his lips, pausing. 

There is something that he has been thinking about quietly in the silence of the night when he pretends to be asleep. 

“I want to make sure that Yerim, and Mom and Dad are okay.” admits Woojin, his words weighing heavily in the air and filling up the tiny bathroom. "I need to know.”

Woojin’s voice cracks on the last word.

“I mean, I know that there’s a chance that they’re- They might already be dea- Ahh, fuck!” Woojin stops himself and raises his hand to his head, tears silently streaming down his face.  

Silently, Jihoon watches him and lets Woojin have his moment.

“It’s stupid. They’re probably fine, right? Am I stupid to keep hoping?” Woojin asks through his sobs. His heart feels like it’s fighting to come up out of his mouth but is being caught and squeezed by his throat. “I just need to see them or hear them or something, I need to know."

“It’s not stupid.”

Standing up and shuffling over, Jihoon drops down beside Woojin and wraps his arms around the other, cradling Woojin’s head against his chest. Closing his eyes, Woojin allows himself to forget everything in Jihoon arms and pretend that the world is made up of just him and Jihoon alone in their cramped bathroom.  

Lying in each other’s arms, Jihoon makes a promise to Woojin, conviction steady in his voice as it echoes off of the tiled walls.

“We’ll go all the way to California if we have to.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


Close to a month has passed and both of them look worse for wear.

Woojin can feel his skin starting to flake from dehydration and the areas under his eyes are noticeably sunken in. He feels hollow, like his skin is being stretched too thin and his bones are made of plastic.

Jihoon doesn’t seem to be faring any better either. When Woojin looks at him, he can see the outline of Jihoon’s jawbone too clearly; Jihoon’s neck looks skinny and fragile, like it could be easily broken, and his soft, fluffy-looking cheeks (one of Woojin’s favourite features about Jihoon) have completely disappeared.

Both of them have lost a lot of weight and their supplies are beginning to run low.

Woojin stares out at the city from a tiny gap that he had left when they had boarded up the windows.

 _It’s time to go._

Once the noises outside have died down - screams only ring out once every few hours instead of a constant barrage of terror - the pair decide to leave the city.

After packing up a small selection of their belongings and any remaining food and water, Woojin and Jihoon abandon the sanctuary of their flat to finally face the crumbling reality of the outside world.

Cautiously, Woojin nudges open their front door, clear after he and Jihoon had successfully removed all of the barricades that they had put up, and peers around cautiously, finding that the corridor appears to be empty.

There are signs of life that had been here at one point, bits of trash littering the carpeted hallway along with clothes that had been dropped and abandoned. Some doors are shut, others are wide open, and there are a few that look as though they had been forcefully broken into. 

Tentatively, Woojin checks their neighbour’s apartment and found that it too has been ransacked, its couch and furniture lying overturned. 

Moving on, Woojin shares a glance with Jihoon before advancing down the hallway, his pocket knife gripped tightly within his hands. 

Jihoon follows behind him, armed with one of Woojin’s old hockey sticks from when he had still played during high school, back in Los Angeles. It was the one that Woojin had used during his final game in sophomore year before he had stopped playing. Impulsively, Woojin had decided to bring it along with him to New York for sentimental reasons.

He hopes that it will be able to keep Jihoon safe.

  
  
  
  
  
  


The stairwell is cold and quiet.

Breathing shallowly, Woojin can feel his heartbeat racing as he places one foot after another, descending down the darkened steps. 

After leaving their apartment, when Woojin and Jihoon had approached the end of the corridor, the door to the very last apartment on their floor had been left wide open, a puddle of dried blood ominously surrounding it’s entrance.

Jihoon had argued not to go in, worried that whoever that had left the blood might be lying in wait within, but Woojin had been curious.

He had been lucky this time.

Venturing inside the bloodstained apartment, Woojin had made the fortunate discovery of a gun - heavy, and cased in black metal - and 2 magazines of life-saving bullets. 

After collecting the pistol, Woojin had offered Jihoon his knife but Jihoon had refused, telling Woojin to hold onto it in case the gun did not work properly.

Currently, Woojin is holding that very gun in his hand as he hurries down the stairs.

It is the first time that Woojin has ever held a firearm, much less with the intention of seriously firing it. His hand feels clammy and Woojin worries that if ( _when_ , his mind supplies) he has to use it, he won’t actually know how. 

Everything continues to be suspiciously quiet and calm as the pair make their way lower, passing by the floor that Daniel and Seongwoo used to live on, and miraculously making it to the ground floor without a single incident.

It is almost too good to be true.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Throwing open the doorway to the reception area, Woojin and Jihoon make their way towards the exit, deftly rushing around the debris on the floor.

Along the way, Jihoon stops and stares at the body of a child. 

It is not the only dead body on the ground but something about this one is particularly haunting. Perhaps because it is so small. Whatever the reason, Jihoon can’t tear his eyes away, transfixed on the little corpse.

“Jihoon!” whispers Woojin, turning around and backtracking once he realises that Jihoon isn’t with him anymore. “Come on, don’t look at it.” 

Woojin loops his free hand around Jihoon’s arm and forcefully tugs him away from the scene. 

“S-Sorry, I don’t know what came over me but I couldn’t turn away.” says Jihoon, shaking himself out of his stupor.

“It’s fine.” Woojin mutters under his breath, hurrying them both along. 

They are close to the exit now and Woojin speeds up, clasping a hand around the door handle and pulling hard. He nearly screams when he finds himself face-to-face with an infected, a _zombie._

He’s never seen one up close before. It looks hideous, like something that nightmares are made out of.

A monster.

Luckily, Woojin had been able to contain his scream once his mind had registered the shock and so he doesn’t attract the attention of an entire _horde_ of zombies. It doesn’t however change the fact that they will still have to find a way to escape from this individual one.

The zombie moans, its grey, sickly-coloured skin peeling from its body in places and its eyes are bulging out from their sockets in its head.

Gathering his wits about him, Woojin spins around and runs, desperately dragging Jihoon with him. 

They run back towards the opposite side of the lobby, rushing past the child corpse and Woojin thinks he may have even stepped on part of the kid in his haste; it makes him feel terrible but there is no time to ponder over that now.

There is a back exit in the building near the parking garage that Jihoon knows about. Leading the way, Jihoon speeds past the broken elevators and rounds the corner, with Woojin following as quickly as he can whilst keeping an eye on the zombie that is chasing them erratically, creating slapping noises as the deranged thing hurtles in their direction. 

Whatever it is now, it certainly is no longer human.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Once the government had begun to take the zombie sightings seriously, a specialised taskforce of soldiers and scientists were issued with capturing and collecting infected victims to use as testing subjects in order to understand the nature of the disease and how to combat it.

Leading experts were able to narrow it down to a variant of the rabies virus, an odd mutation similar to the mad cow disease, which caused human victims to become rabid and driven by blood. The disease was spread via saliva and therefore could be contracted through being bitten or by consuming infected meat. 

This meant that healthy humans were at risk of being turned into these walking abominations if they had received a non-fatal bite. Those that were attacked to the point of death would simply remain dead, contrary to the belief that the zombies were the walking dead.

The disease worked by deteriorating the brains of the infected, shutting down logic and emotions, and removing their human limits. The zombies were observed to have little to no regard for their own self-preservation or well-being, and did not seem to feel pain. Mostly moving slowly when unprovoked, infected humans would rampage after a target that they had locked onto in rapid spurts of energy. They were, however, noted to shy away from bright lights and had a strong aversion to water. 

The taskforce had discovered that the zombies could most efficiently be killed by destroying their heads or necks, however there was not enough time for a cure to be developed before the chaos had become unstoppable.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Those who continue to survive the nightmare have little faith left. However, there is a secret that not many people know. 

Mere hours before all media and communications were shut down, a handful of articles had surfaced detailing that a small research team in Canada had released news of possibly having developed a trial vaccine, one that was effective in causing immunity to the zombie disease.

A small beacon of hope is better than none at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope no american readers get offended by this bc i am a) overrunning your country with zombies, b) butchering your geography at the same time, and c) using british english while i do it. i’m so sorry ;A;
> 
>  
> 
> Fun facts: 
> 
> 1\. i’m using the game 7 Days to Die and its corresponding Game Theory video as reference for the zombies in this ficverse
> 
> 2\. the gun that woojin finds is a SIG Sauer as a reference to my secret agent au / ficverse
> 
> 3\. i plan to explain more in later chapters but just in case anyone is super confused: woojin and jihoon are both from los angeles (california) and went to high school together before moving to new york for college, woojin’s family still lives in california, jihoon’s family moved to chicago where his older brother lives
> 
> 4\. the title of this fic is taken from a My Chemical Romance song of the same name (bc apparently i am scene kid trash)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are appreciated ♥


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